Wind Turbine Tower Attachment Without Shell Penetration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for attaching auxiliary components to wind turbine towers via welding create areas of low fatigue stress, requiring thicker materials and increasing weight and cost, necessitating improved attachment techniques that minimize structural impact.
Innovation Solution
A force distribution method using couplings that exert normal and shear forces perpendicular to the tower's shell, allowing for secure attachment without penetrating the shell, utilizing adhesives or magnets for fastening, and allowing for flexible mounting to accommodate dynamic loads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If auxiliary components are attached to the tower via fixtures welded to the tower, then the auxiliary components are securely mounted, but the tower requires thicker walls to compensate for reduced fatigue stress, increasing weight and cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical welding system with a friction-fit system using a friction fit fixture. The fixture includes a friction fit member that engages with the tower shell through friction forces, eliminating the need for welding. This substitution resolves the contradiction by providing secure mounting without creating low fatigue stress areas that would require thicker tower walls, thereby reducing tower weight while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the attachment mechanism from welding (which creates permanent, high-stress joints) to friction-fit (which allows for controlled, lower-stress connections). By changing the fundamental parameter of how the fixture connects to the tower, the system achieves secure mounting without the need to increase tower wall thickness, thus resolving the weight-reliability contradiction.
2Reliability
If auxiliary components are attached to the tower via fixtures welded to the tower, then the auxiliary components are securely mounted, but the tower requires thicker walls to compensate for reduced fatigue stress, increasing cost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the welding process with a friction-fit mechanism. The friction fit fixture uses a friction fit member that engages with the tower shell through friction forces, eliminating the need for welding operations. This substitution reduces manufacturing cost by avoiding the expensive welding process and the associated need for thicker, more expensive tower materials, while still achieving secure mounting.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the attachment parameter from welding to friction-fit, the system achieves secure mounting without requiring thicker tower walls. This parameter change directly reduces material costs and manufacturing expenses while maintaining the reliability of auxiliary component mounting, thus resolving the cost-reliability contradiction.
3Ease of manufacture
If fixtures are welded to the tower shell, then auxiliary components can be attached, but the tower shell is penetrated creating areas of low fatigue stress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes welding with a friction-fit mechanism that does not penetrate the tower shell. The friction fit member engages with the shell through friction forces without creating openings or stress concentration points. This eliminates the creation of low fatigue stress areas while still enabling auxiliary component attachment, resolving the strength-ease of manufacture contradiction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the penetration aspect from the attachment system. Instead of welding which requires penetrating the tower shell, the friction-fit system attaches components through the outer surface without compromising the shell's integrity. This extraction of the penetration function resolves the contradiction by maintaining shell strength while enabling component attachment.
4Strength
If thicker tower walls are used to compensate for welded attachment, then fatigue stress is maintained, but the tower weight and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces welding with friction-fit, which eliminates the need for thicker tower walls. The friction fit mechanism provides sufficient attachment strength without creating the stress concentration that would require increased wall thickness. This substitution directly reduces tower weight while maintaining the required fatigue stress performance.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the attachment method from welding to friction-fit, the system eliminates the need to increase tower wall thickness to compensate for stress concentration. This parameter change allows the tower to maintain its original, lighter wall thickness while still achieving the required fatigue stress performance, thus resolving the weight-strength contradiction.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method reduces material thickness and weight requirements, minimizes structural compromise, and facilitates in-field installation with reduced reliance on specialized tools, maintaining structural integrity and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
the second coupling may include an adhesive in contact with the inner surface of the shell
Implementation Method 2
at least one portion of the inner surface of the shell may be formed of a ferromagnetic material, and the second coupling may include a magnet (e.g., a permanent magnet) in contact with the ferromagnetic material
Data Source
AI summary
Devices, systems, and methods are directed to mounting an auxiliary component to a tower based at least in part on a force distribution in which a normal force is greater than a shear force exerted by the auxiliary component on a shell of the tower such that the auxiliary component may be held in place relative to the tower without penetrating the shell of the tower. Thus, as compared to mounting techniques requiring penetration of the shell of the tower, this force distribution along the shell of the tower may facilitate mounting the auxiliary component to the tower with little to no impact on cost and/or structural requirements of the tower. Further, or instead, as compared to other mounting techniques, mounting the auxiliary component based at least in part on this force distribution may reduce or eliminate the need for specialized tools, thus facilitating in-field installation of the auxiliary component.